The ones who came after them
by Phaeton394
Summary: A long time ago, the world was made by a group of people known as the "Creators", but their disappearance caused the world to go by a different path. How can the world survive now? And more importantly: How will this new group of kids take this responsibility and survive the destruction of all they have known?
1. Prologue: The Eight story

**Disclaimer: So it's my first time, so I guess I should be putting this… Sadly, I do not own Homestuck nor its characters. I only own the story and the OCs.**

* * *

 **Act 1**

 **Prologue: The Eight Story**

"Everyone has a story to tell". Some do it one way, some do another. It doesn't matter.

The storyline of the events happening on paradox space and related dimensions, is not fully understandable, the events can mix, intersect, and fade of a sudden.

Fortunately for you, I'm a chronicler able to make an organized "story" of everything I lived, saw and caused. However, because of difficulties related to time continuity, a somewhat complicated narrative, the inexperience of using my newfound powers and the blurriness of what I can see with them, only a person with enough knowledge of weird plot shit can follow my words.

So throughout the story I will comment occasionally, depending on the importance of the moment. Also to specify and explain stuff out of the linear narrative, like the condition of the plane.

Huh? My name? You can call me "The Eighth Chronicler".

Now, from where should I begin?

* * *

 **A/N: As I said above, this is my first time writing fan fiction, and as I say in my profile, English is not my native language, and I'm practicing my writing skills in this language. I'll need your constructive criticism and advices to improve the story, also as help in future works I'll make. I know there are so much stories like this on the web, but I'll put all my effort to make the story have its own essence. I plan to upload the chapters on a regular schedule (more or less). Expect the chapters to be uploaded on weekends. OCs were created by me and my friends. Thank you for reading this.**

 **8th: Please review and follow. And please help him to not ruin my story. Thank you in advance.**


	2. Chapter 1: Trolls!

"Character speaking"

" _Character thinking"_

 **Chapter 1: Trolls!**

A young troll is standing alone in his room. Turns out that this is a special day, not for him, but for an entire planet. Why?. Well, talk about that later, we are focused in the kid. Which is this troll's name?

The troll kid puts his glasses on, and walks a bit towards a pile of books. He grabs an open book located in the top of the pile and closes it. It seems is something written in the red cover: Vulpes Kogyto. Well, it seems it's his name, but why he doesn't write: "this book belongs to Vulpes Kogyto, if found, return it to a hive in middle of nowhere"? That makes more sense, because someone could think he is the book author... Or is he...?

The boy makes a gesture, confirming that's his name. In my opinion, the thing I said makes more sense... Well, we'll return talking about him.

He has an oval-circle-shaped face, short coal-black hair, small nose and yellow eyes and gray skin. On his face are multiple scars. His glasses are rounded, covered by a thin, black frame. He wears a semi-formal, short-sleeve shirt, occasionally wearing a red or green tie. His horns resemble fox ears a little bit. He thinks that's why his father named him Vulpes... It causes him so much nostalgia to think about it, so he doesn't like to, at least not now.

Vulpes walks around his room like if he was thinking on something or someone, or preoccupied or waiting for someone.

His room is quite big and spacious, well, it's not surprising since he needs space for tons and tons of books and strange artifacts, some of them are ancient swords, one in particular which is placed cautiously on a pedestal on a special part of the room. There are also old books about myths and legends he likes to read. Finally there are some anime and video game figures his friends gave him for his birthday. The walls are painted a dark green and are full of drawing sheets given to him by a friend of his and some anime posters... His room feels more like a treasury or a warehive than a regular bedroom. Well, at least he has a normal recuperacoon.

Most of his books are about chemistry, history, genetics and ectobiology. He has also storybooks and mythology. There is also a book with a golden and brown cover near the the sword pedestal.

He likes to read, explore and to collect different old objects, TONS OF OLD OBJECTS. He began doing it when he was about 3 or 4 sweeps old, especially reading and exploring taught by _**him**_ , first he investigated about something, and then he went out to search for new things. And since his town is located near the border line between the human and the troll side of the planet, so here is quite a big place to explore and to watch the many events that happen there, some of them a bit... Frightening...

And the part of collecting objects was passed to him by his friend Faye, who kept sending him human stuff like movies, books, musical instruments? and boosting his curiosity, since she is so curious and a bit... Stalker? Well, better to not enter that part. The point is that she started his collecting habit, first small objects, then books and artifacts and bigger things stored in his "special room".

*Beep-beep* The laptop on his room send a notification sound. It seems someone is trolling Vulpes. Logged under the username **eternityInvestigator** Vulpes is in touch with his friends by Trollian 6.1.2, the top messaging app used by every troll. Actually, he has only met a single friend in person, and he expects to meet everyone someday. But for now, he has to answer this message. Why now if he is so busy in so many things?!... Well, actually not so busy right now, he is only thinking and organizing things for your investigations or to another trip to the border.

 **godHunter [GH] began trolling eternityInvestigator [EI]**

GH: Man!

GH: Are you there?!

EI: Hi!ñ

EI: What do shou want?ñ

GH: Ugh!

GH: How many timeß I've tell you not to make those disgusting ßoundß!

GH: Learn to pronounce the "y" and stop making that disgusting "ñ" sound at the end of every single sentence.

EI: First: this is written here, shou can't hear my pronunciation.ñ

EI: Second: shou haven't heard me pronounce this or anyone else.ñ

GH: I've heard all those sounds used correctly in normal statements, but I don't like how you use them here with normal words and statements, and it's quite annoying.

EI: Just calm down and tell me what shou were going to say before complaining about my speech form.ñ

GH: Don't change the subject!

EI: I'm a bit... busy right now, so say what shou have to.ñ

GH: Busy? Again? What "interesting" stuff you do there?

EI: Shup, I'm very busy, and I do many things here.

GH: Like what?

EI: Well...ñ reading, searching for things, investigating, watching over my lusus, going outside my hive and go to certain places, etc.ñ

GH: Wow... That sounds very interesting... (sarcasm)

EI: HEY!ñ

GH: Well, I'm pretty bored here, so maybe I also will do something else, like... Well, it doesn't concerns you.

EI: Ok, so...ñ

EI: So... we'll talk later about my "wrong form of speech".ñ

GH: Just for this time, later we'll have a long talk about this.

EI: I really hope that doesn't happens...ñ

GH: Whatever... Do you have the game already?

EI: Nope!ñ

EI: Arce hasn't sent me the code for the program.ñ

EI: He said me shou gave him the original code.ñ

GH: Yes, I gave him the code for that, just wait, I will send it to you later.

EI: Thank shou!ñ

GH: Yeah, no problem

EI: Well, I'll leave, see shou later!ñ

GH: Farewell

 **eternityInvestigator [EI] ceased trolling godHunter [GH]**

Vulpes exits pesterchum and walks to the window. Today's a good day to go on an expedition to The Wall or going to the forest. He discards almost inmediatly the second option and prepares himself to exit the house. "Today's the day. To go to the human side". He thinks and grabs his backpack in a hurry. Remembers he needs a weapon to defend himself from road robbers and wild animals. He captchalogued his best sword in his backpack modus.

The modus works like a regular backpack, he captchalogues the wanted item. It space is unlimited, but there is a danger about using it. The weight of the captchalogued item manifests in a weird mental/imaginary form, but the exhaustion is real. It is only recommended for professional adventurers, but who cares about it? It is the best way to go out like a real explorer.

He goes down the stairs and exits the house. " _The game can wait, right?ñ This is more important.ñ"_ Was the only thought in his mind.

 **8th: What are Vulpes's plans? Who is this "godHunter"?**


	3. Chapter 2: Humans!

**Chapter 2: Humans!**

A girl stands in her house, which seems to be in a kind of black void. Unlike the boy, this girl is a pink-skinned, hornless human. Her most notable trait is her long red hair dyed pink at the tip. She is quite taller than Vulpes, about one or two inches more than him. Hey eyes are sky blue. Her white t-shirt is a bit torn out like her green skirt. She also likes to wear red short-heeled shoes, but inside the house wears slippers.

Judging by her appearance, she doesn't seems to be godHunter, but well, we're already here, so let's look a bit more at her.

The place looks destroyed as if there has been a strife, although some things can be seen though, like some shattered posters of boy bands, musical instruments derstroyed. The windows are broken, showing only an endless black void.

The human girl is very tired. She looks at a picture, and remembers… In the wooden frame of the picture, a name is carved: Faye Aderyn

Some hours ago…

Ah! Things look better and clearer now without those scratches in the wall and black windows.

Faye is on her bed wearing headphones hearing a song from her favorite band: ... Wait, which "favorite band" are we talking about? It's nearly impossible to name them all or even count them! Also we need to know which genre is, she likes nearly every music genre in the world: kpop, band, folkloric, classic, troll, carapacian, ALL OF THEM! Not enough for her, she learned to play several musical instruments: wind, percussion, chord instruments, etc. In her room a guitar, a keyboard piano and a lyre. Most of the other instruments are on the other room.

Her room consists on a soft bed, which sheets are laying on the floor, a desk and computer, a small television, her closet full of many kinds of dresses and shoes. Her favorite instruments are in a corner of the room; the guitar is in its case, the piano keyboard in its stand, and the harp is on a special shelf on the wall.

She was enjoying the beautiful voice of the singer when a very loud sound comes from the headphones into her ears at high volume *Beep-beep* It isn't from the music, she knows every song she hears. It can be only one thing: the annoying sound of the pesterchum notifications.

She walks to her desk, trying to clean everything over the keyboard, mouse and screen. Who can be this time?

 **eternityInvestigator [EI] began trolling compassionateMagician [CM]**

EI: Hi Faye.ñ

EI: How are shou?ñ

CM: Hi! :)

CM: I'm fine, and you?

EI: Meh, a bit busy.ñ

CM: Oh, I see. What are you doing?

EI: Preparing something for an expedition and waiting for Egyren and Arce to send me the code and all that stuff.ñ

CM: Are you eager to play the game?

EI: Shup!ñ I hope Arce know what is he doing.ñ

CM: Relax, he is very good at his work ^^

EI: Shes, but I'm a bit unsure about how the thing is going with those two. Since they found the code, I've been very anxious.ñ

CM: I see…

EI: I recommend shou to start preparing what shou'll use for the game.ñ

CM: What do you mean?

EI: Shou know, shour strife deck, skylladex, ummm…ñ What else?ñ

CM: I have those things ready, Egyren told me to prepare those because of a walkthrough he read

EI: Walkthrough?ñ

CM: Yes! According to Egyren, Arce found within the code a short walkthrough about "alchemy" and "entering the medium" and some kind of weird stuff.

CM: He told me he would send me the code for the walkthrough too

EI: Interesting…ñ Thank shou.ñ

CM: No problem!

CM: I will send it to you when I have it

EI: How much time shou think will take Arce to finish decoding that?ñ

CM: Dunno, one day or two I think. Why?

EI: Because of my expedition, I'll be out like about 5 hours.ñ

CM: I think that's enough time ;)

EI: Shup, I prepared everything.ñ

EI: Well I'm going.ñ See sha!

CM: Bye ^^

 **eternityInvestigator [EI] ceased trolling compassionateMagician [CM]**

"Well, time to work on that" Said as she stood up and walked across the room.

She opened her strife deck, and selected the mirrorkind and stringskind for her kind abstracta. They were located near each other for easily reach and change speed at a fight. The mirrorkind lets her use any mirror, crystal and related reflecting object as a weapon. The stringskind is very interesting, because it works with all kind of string instruments and things with strings. Actually, that sounded better in her head than in loud voice.

Now, for the fetch modus she decided to use her trustful pentagram modus, which orders her stuff in five rows and seven columns on it. The rows order the objects on them from most useful to less useful on a certain situation. And each column is filled with related objets, let's say: one column for instruments, other for computers and cellphones, and another one for clothes. It is useful and handy for most activities and has a very large space for storing things.

She captchalogued her tablet to wait for Vulpes, Egyren, Arce and EVERYONE's messages. God! This is so tiring! For her weapons, she selected four yellow hand mirrors, a harp and an electric guitar.

Faye exited the room and walked towards her cousin's room… She stood there and looked at the door… No. She turned around and left that place, it is pretty scary. Wonder what is in that room… there could be infinity of things in there.

Now she tried going downstairs. " _Hope Cuz is not there"_. Slowly, she approached the living room, walking shorter footsteps each foot near the room. Nearer… nearer… Just a small peek. A tall female figure was seated on the couch reading a Crockercorp product magazine. There she was, her wicked cousin. Well, "wicked" is a strong word for describing a person, but it fits her so well because of the non-conventional behavior she has towards certain things, ideas and everything else. Like that time when Faye brought that little white dove to her house, her cousin started to say: "Get that thing out from my house!" She started to scream all around the house and then grabbed something to scare the poor animal out. It continues coming inside her room each three or four days and she gives it food, water and a place to stay in. She also plays her harp while the bird sings a cheerful melody. Ah… good memories!

Faye was too distracted remembering good memories, enough for being discovered by Cuz. Run! She ran for her life to the music room and hid behind the immense contrabass and covered the side spaces with two tubas. The figure entered the room and searched in the wind section. " _Please don't come inside please, please, please…"_ The redhead closed her eyes, made herself a ball and waited her to go away. For her surprise Cuz started to walk away to the exit. Faye exhaled and opened her eyes. *Beep-beep* Her laptop made a notification sound, enough for Cuz to hear it. " _I'm dead, I'm SO dead!_ Cuz wasn't finished taking out the huge contrabass from its place when Faye pushed it, burying Cuz below it. Taking advantage of the situation, ran away quickly out of the room and absconded to her bedroom. And faster she built a barricade in the door. " _I made it! I really made it!"_ She inhaled and exhaled.

After calming down, she sat and uncaptchalogued her tablet to answer that message. " _It must be him"_

 **godHunter [GH] began trolling compassionateMagician [CM]**

GH: Aderyn!

GH: Hallo?

CM: Hey, you choose the worst moment to pester me!

GH: Well, you and Kogyto told me to stay communicated with both of you and Pentil.

CM: Yeah, I know it's tiring, but I recently escaped from my cousin

CM: When you pestered me, the notification sound revealed my hideout

CM: Now I need to build a bigger barricade in my door and cover my room window

GH: Yeah, whatever.

GH: You have to thank me for my effort getting the code for the game.

GH: And speaking of that

GH: I come to tell you that the game is ready.

 **A/N: After these two chapters and prologue, I'll be uploading the next chapters in a regular schedule as I said before (I'll try to do it) Around each week or two weeks. I have some chapters already made, and I'll write another one while I upload the other chapters.**

 **8th: We all know you'll not release the chapters on time.**

 **A: Is that a challenge?!**


	4. Chapter 3: Raider of the Lost Code

**Chapter 3: The Raider of the Lost Code**

A troll is looking through a big window, holding a small tablet with his left hand. On the tablet's screen, a conversation between a human and that troll is shown. He is concentrated on that conversation, especially in what the other person is telling him. What this troll name may be?

* * *

CM: Really?! Wait, no

CM: Don't change the subject Egyren Kovaro. It's your fault I almost die!

GH: Please, do not exaggerate!

GH: Anyway, we need to talk about this. You told me I had to inform you about the game, and I did it. You're welcome.

CM: Whatever, you need to control yourself. Now what you have to say?

GH: I am so…

GH: Interested on what kind of potential the game has.

CM: Yeah, you definitely are…

* * *

As seen in the conversation, the troll is named Egyren Kovaro, and he likes to… Well, you can see his behavior when talking to his friends. His head has a round form, his eyes always make a piercing gaze when very concentrated, not to mention his grey skin makes his eyes look sharper. Now, his horns are complicated, they come from the back of his head and grow towards the front of his head, covering part of his head temples. He likes to wear jeans, leather boots, a short sleeve shirt, and a dark blue jacket. Night colors predominate amongst the room, dark blue walls and ceiling. A bed on the corner of the room, on the another a work desk and a laptop atop of it, at the right of the desk, a shelf stores all his pens, markers and notebooks he uses for writing, drawing and resolving mathematical operations. Everything good enough for a cerulean blood.

Behind his bed, a great window where the wall is supposed to be, is covered with big curtains. Actually, there is only one lamp inside his room. The rest of the light in the room comes from the moon outside and from the laptop on the desk.

Another important thing to see in his room is the humongous TV on the opposite wall to the window. Below is is a stereo and a all-in-one multimedia player: VHS, laser disk, DVD, Blu-ray and connection to the cloud. It is mostly used to watch movies and series on it. He is a complete and expert cinephile. His likes are more focused in cult films from the creators era. "Most actual films are shit". He always is saying "Troll-film industry is slower that human-film industry". "Kogyto told us one of the 'creators' named the place 'Hollywood' as sacred land. That sounds so stupid". "Another 'creator' made important contributions to the troll-film industry, especially in rom-coms. But with the new troll empire the the industry became slower and slower". "Although I don't like them, I have to admit troll romance films are pretty neat".

* * *

CM: Oh, I almost forgot! What about the walkthrough?

GH: Got it and read it already.

CM: Pass it!

GH: Wait a second…

GH: Arce's_ 

GH: And for the best part…

GH: 01010011 01100010 01110101 01110010 01100010 00111010 00100000 01110011 01100101 01110010 01110110 01100101 01110010 00100000 01100011 01101111 01100100 01100101 00101110 00110100 00110001 00110011

GH: Here is the server game code.

CM: Server game code?

GH: Correct, the game is split in two parts: server player and client player.

GH: 01010011 01100010 01110101 01110010 01100010 00111010 00100000 01100011 01101100 01101001 01100101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01100011 01101111 01100100 01100101 00101110 00110100 00110001 00110011

GH: The client code

GH: For example: if you use the server code, you will be someone's "server player", that means you'll control his surroundings and session.

GH: And the client one is for playing yourself in your house or something like that, then you connect with your server player.

GH: That will make a player chain between us being servers and clients of another one.

CM: I don't know how that makes sense

GH: It makes sense anyway, everything's in the walkthrough.

CM: Speaking of that, how did Arce and you got the code?

GH: We? No, he only decodified the code, I got it.

GH: From the temple near my hive.

CM: YOU HAVE A TEMPLE NEAR YOUR HIVE?!

GH: Correct.

* * *

 **Some time in the past, but not too far…**

The troll is walking towards a great structure, his ancestor told him not to get near it, but his strong curiosity and ambition makes him walk towards the temple.

" _Heh, Kogyto should be doing this, now I look like him"._

From far away, the temple looked like a tower with a great frog statue on the top of it. Surrounding the main tower, five pillars were standing, other three incomplete ones stood with the others, making a total of eight pillars. Two of them were cut in half, while the other one was almost entirely destroyed. The main structure was also surrounded by eight spheres on the ground, which two of them had small spheres attached to them. Also he could notice seven circles carved on each side of the temple.

" _Well, I am not going to achieve anything staying here"._ With these words he purposed to enter the temple.

After climbing the long stairs, he entered a vast room with… Wait, it's very dark here. Thinking on this, the troll opened his skylladex to take out a light. The inventory manifested itself as a holographic screen in which a series of numbers showed up: 128 x 17 ^ 2 =? After thinking it some seconds, he said the answer aloud: "36992" The screen lit a blue color and showed Egyren's inventory, which on the third row a lantern was placed. He took it and lit the place before him. He saw… a flower? Wait, not any flower, one with a unnatural great size, and below it a timer for something, I mean, it's a TIMER, it must be there for some reason.

A hieroglyphs series carved on the room's wall caught his attention, as he got nearer, the more interesting they where.

" _This is not any language I know, nor anything I have heard about"_ He was puzzled by those mysterious things.

One by one, he took photos of each series and started thinking.

" _It is not troll, nor human language in any of their variants. Maybe an extinct language? No. There are not enough clues about it"_ He thought more and more as he continued to take the photos, when he came to something. " _Many glyphs repeat themselves in constant value, if I know someone who could traduce or decode this language… Wait! A code, that's it! There must be a coded message behind this nonsense. Arce must know about this, and Vulpes, with all those books, there must be something to crack the code!_ He came then with glyphs made with what seems to be different "handwriting". " _That part must be been written by another person, both series don't look alike"._

When he finished taking the photos, he left the temple, not before he had checked the timer again. It showed: 32:22:18:07.

" _I must come in 33 days to see what happens"._

When exiting the temple, he stopped walking, he didn't feel right, something _wasn't_ right, " _someone is looking at me"._ Trying to stay calmed, he turned around and saw nothing " _It must be my imagination, I am so tired right now"._ With this thought in mind, he left the temple and headed to his hive. " _What the hell was that?"_

Someone or something was seated on the top of the temple, right above of the frog's head. It looked at him silently and smiled " _Here we go again…"_ The figure walked behind the frog and disappeared there.

From far away Egyren's saw his hive, _his great mansion._ It was normal to him, since he is the heir of the great Nobleman, his ancestor. He created a great financial empire, which made him to be one of the most important trolls on all the troll kingdom, competing directly against the human mega corporation Crockercorp. He made all of this despite not being a purple blood, which is a very great goal for any troll. " _That is only thing he gave me… Not the best guardian, but the lusus is there for it"._

Egyren crossed the door leading to a great hall with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. As he entered the room, Egyren was greeted by his lusus, it was a slim horned animal with a big fur and very long fangs. It took his coat and hung it on a rack. "Thank you Sigbin, I'll bring you meat later" Said to the creature, which showed the tongue and licked its fangs. He laughed and went upstairs towards his room. The lusus stood alone in the hall and exited the hive to find something to eat.

"Now back to work" Saying this, he turned on his computer and contacted Arce.

 **godHunter [GH] began trolling anthropomorphicCreator [AC]**

GH: Man!

GH: I have found something!

AC: What_do_you_mean?

GH: Take a look for yourself!

GH: Hieroglyphics_ 

AC: Glyphs?_What_happens_with_them?

GH: I want you to decipher them. I think they are a kind of ancient code.

AC: Why_me?

GH: Because you are a programmer with experience on that kind of things, duh!

AC: I'm_a_programmer,_not_an_historian._Vulpes'_help_will_be_better than_mine.

AC: Maybe_having_a_languages_or_glyphs_book_of_his_could_help_me

GH: Get to the point, can you do it?

AC: Sigh…

AC: Give_Vulpes_and_me_a_month_to_decipher_that_code

GH: A whole month you say! I am unsure if appreciate you for the quick translation or not because of the waiting time.

AC: Just_calm_down_and_let_us_do_our_job

GH: Thank you.

GH: See you later.

AC: Hey!

AC: You_owe_me_a_favor

GH: Ok, then…

 **godHunter [GH] ceased trolling anthropomorphicCreator [AC]**

[Espacio]

GH: I gave the glyphs to Pentil, Kogyto translated them, and finally Pentil decoded them. We discovered it was a game, and everything else is history.

CM: I see…

CM: Your story is weird but exciting at the same time

GH: Hey, could you give Kogyto both codes? I will be occupied.

CM: No problem, just only that he told me he would be outside his hive at this moment.

CM: On an expedition

GH: Jeez…

GH: He went to the usual place, right?

CM: I don't know, he just told me he go somewhere

GH: He must have been gone there…

GH: Calm down… calm down…

GH: Okay, just rename the codes to "Server player" and "Client player" in that order.

GH: To avoid confusion.

CM: You could have renamed the codes yourself -_-

GH: Minor details.

GH: So…

GH: See ya later?

CM: Wait

CM: We need the player chain you told me about

GH: Yeah, about that…

GH: Take for instance: If you are Kogyto's server player, someone else has to be your server player, not Kogyto, because that would break the chain and only you two would be playing in the session.

GH: Then I have to be your server player to continue the chain and so on.

CM: Sounds good for me

CM: Then who'll be your server player?

GH: I'll think about it later.

GH: Well, give him the codes, then message me again.

CM: No problem

GH: Bye ^^

CM: See you later.

 **godHunter [GH] ceased trolling compassionateMagician [CM]**

Egyren got away from the computer and fell onto his bed: " _I have so much work to do here"_ Then he smiled and said aloud: "I think I will let them to do everything else. Maybe until I play as Faye's server player". Smiling, he closed his eyes and took a short nap.

* * *

 **compassionateMagician [CM] began pestering eternityInvestigator [EI]**

CM: Vulpes!

CM: I have the codes finally!

CM: TheGame-server_player

CM: TheGame-client_player

CM: Arce's_ 

CM: Be sure to read the last one

CM: Use the client code, I'll use the other one

CM: Understood?

CM: Sheah, sure Faye.ñ… Oooookay, no

CM: Well, it was a good interpretation

CM: Hello? Vulpes?!

* * *

 **8th: Where is Vulpes? What will happen with them when they play the game? Stay here for more!**


	5. Chapter 4: This world (Their world)

**A/N: No, I haven't died. The chapter took me a bit more because I took my time to detail some subjects. Next chapter will come out sooner. Having said this, let's begin!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own homestuck or any of its characters. I only own the OCs and the story.**

"Character speaking"

"Character thinking"

* * *

 **Chapter 4: This world (Their world)**

On the large dry plains of the eastern region of the troll kingdom, a young troll walks alone with nature itself against him. Vulpes Kogyto is this troll's name. Every once in a time, he exits his lonely hive to explore a bit as _**he**_ told him long time ago, only to kill boredom. When he was a troll who never had left his home, the first time he went to the outside world, a strange sensation went through his back as he saw everything. Now, as a more experienced explorer, he ventured to go to a place rarely visited by other trolls. This doesn't means he hasn't been there previously, but every time he gets around there, is a whole new adventure.

There was that time he found five kind abstractus on the same day: knifekind, bladekind, fireworkkind, needlekind and spoonkind, those were the weapons from people who were passing by. On other day, he found some human equipment in a strange fetch modus. But the most common things found there are… He stopped walking as he arrived the place "Corpses and wild animals.ñ" he said while looking the what was in front of him.

A huge wall stood before his eyes. It was around five hives tall and its longitude reached as far as the eye can see. A border between the troll and the human territory in the continent.

There are three territories in this world: Human Kingdom, Troll Empire and Carapacian Territories, each one with its special laws, traditions and lifestyles.

Human Kingdom goes through the northern part of what the Creators used to call _North America_ , and the western part of _Asia_ and part of _Australia_.

Trolls occupy _Europe_ , and _Eastern Asia_.

Finally, carapacians live in _South America_ , _Australia_ , _Asia_ and in special human-carapacian communities.

Finally, the continent known as _Africa_ is inhabited by all three species, most of them live together in small communities. This area is known by being out of the reach of the three kingdoms. Only the south and center is habited, while the northern half of the continent is totally desolated, since it is not the best place for living in. These territories were taken by groups of all three species who didn't want to live inside the principal territories because of political and war problems.

While the Troll Empire is more focused into warfare, human and carapacian kingdoms are relatively more peacefully than it, but can resist effectively their attacks in previous wars.

The trolls have a system based on blood castes defined by the blood color of each trolls, established by the Eleventh fuchsia emperor on the Eleventh Fucsia blood Era. Those who are in a higher caste, have more opportunities than lower ones, much of whom live in middle or low class.

Carapacian have medieval-like kingdom structure, with majestic castles, towers and a black-and-white check pattern on most cities and structures. There are also several can towns scattered around the world believed to be built by this species. These are a really good place to visit.

Humans, albeit not having these differences in blood, have a power structure composed of economic and military power. Those who are over the rest of the society are very far away from normal communities. They have the biggest commercial empire on the world: Crockercorp, founded by one of the Creators.

World culture has undergone several transformations across eras. At the beginning, they were very separated, even having different expressions between races. If you travel from one territory to another, you would find problems getting used to their life style. It was like traveling to another planet!

Fortunately, most things were standardized by the Creators, who wanted every species to get along more easily. Culture merging lasted many eras, until rulers and governments entered into long disputes. After war and political conflicts strikes both nations, their bonds began to weaken.

It was said the Creators abandoned the planet eras ago. Nobody knows the exact reason; the only ones who did know are dead right now. The curiosity has always annoyed Vulpes. Egyren for his part, was never concerned about the topic, always saying "The creators are bullshit" or something like that, offending Vulpes on the spot. Although Arce wasn't interested on the topic either, sometimes he helped the troll on his investigations… his long and exhausting investigations. One thing lead to another, and now they have the game ready.

But Vulpes does it for another reason, he wants to do it for _**him**_ _._ _ **He**_ went to the human kingdom in one of his expeditions, especially to _that place._ He has to… no he must explore those unknown lands for a young troll! " _It is a promise.ñ"_ Vulpes said placing his right hand on his heart and said something in a lower voice. The wind blew near him, taking his words far, far away.

He turned to the troll corpses and contemplated them for a while, they were five rust bloods, two yellow bloods, ten brownish red bloods, and fourteen yellow bloods. Vulpes bent next to a yellow blood corpse looking for something on his pockets and backpack. Nothing. Everything has been looted out of him. One by one, he inspected every corpse, but almost all of them had empty pockets, only two of them had canned food. He posed his eyes on a female troll some sweeps older than him. She was holding a small dagger in her right hand. Vulpes struggled to take the weapon because of the _rigor mortis._ "Heh, it seems this work has pashed off after all.ñ". He closed the woman's eyes as he stood up. "Well, I need to return.ñ People will be celebrating and I don't want do be late.ñ". Looking for a while to the wall and the corpses, he left the place with a strange feeling.

"That troll is very _lucky_ ". A slim hooded figure grinned "no one did shoot him". It closed its eyes and started walking above the wall. "Well, think I got someone to look for. They are sooo interesting". The figure disappeared not before giving a cold glare towards the young troll and muttering something in low voice.

* * *

" _I hope Kogyto returns early"_ The other troll was impatient. " _He chose the wrong time to exit for another 'adventure' of his"._

" _There is nothing to do here. Better I message someone"_ With this thought in mind, he got up from his bed and carried the laptop to it.

* * *

 **godHunter [GH] began trolling eternityInvestigator [EI]**

GH: Kogyto!

GH: KOGYTO!

GH: If you receive this, you must answer Aderyn. She had already send you both codes. She will explain you everything later.

GH: We will wait for you for one hour more.

GH: Understood?!

 **godHunter [GH] ceased trolling eternityInvestigator [EI]**

* * *

" _Hmmm… Who else is online?"._

* * *

 **godHunter [GH] began trolling anthropomorphicCreator [AC]**

GH: Hey! Kogyto does not respond!

AC: Why?

GH: He told Aderyn he would go on an expedition some hours ago.

AC: I_see…

GH: Now we must change the player chain to prevent being late on this.

AC: No,_it_isn't_necessary

AC: The_chain_it's_okay_like_this

AC: First_Vulpes,_then_Faye,_then_you

GH: And what about the others?

AC: My_project_is_almost_ready,_so_if_you_take_a_little_bit_longer, better_for_me

GH: Better just for you!

AC: Exactly

AC: And_if_I'm_busy,_maybe_the_other_one_could_take_care_of_it

GH: Suuuuure…

GH: Well, you'll go after me.

AC: IF_I_end_my_project

GH: Suuuuure…

GH: What kind of project you mean?

AC: It's_a_secret_to_everyone

GH: Suuuuure…

AC: Stop_your_sarcasm_a_little

GH: Never

AC: Yes,_you_need_to

GH: Anyway, it does not benefits me in anything

AC: It_benefits_everyone_you_come_across _with

GH: Meh, I will think about it.

AC: Thanks

GH: And something else.

AC: Tell_me

GH: Have you discovered anything else about the game?

AC: It_was_very_difficult_trying_to_find_another_meaning_to_the_code. Almost_everything_in_it_is_highly_encrypted._I_don't_know_if_I_really_could _uncover_everything_in_it_if_I_had_more_time

GH: Yes, whoever wrote that thing is a genius.

AC: Or_an_insane_person

GH: Well, did you find some scary stuff or something like that?

AC: Two_interesting_things._One was the fact the game was created centuries ago, maybe millennia ago

GH: Centuries?! Millennia?!

AC: Most_probably_it_is._The_structure_seems_to_be_here_since_the _beginnings_of_this_world

AC: Maybe_the_creators_placed_it_in_there_at_that_moment

GH: Impossible! I refuse to believe or accept anything of that bullshit!

AC: There_you_go…

GH: It's because of Kogyto I have to hear all that stuff!

AC: Just_calm_down,_maybe_with_this_game_we_can_find_some_ answers.

GH: Perhaps you're right.

AC: Yeah,_I'll_be_investigating_more_about_this

GH: Heh, usually is Kogyto who says that.

AC: Ha!_This_time_you're_right

GH: I am always right.

AC: Whatever_you_say…

AC: Oh,_and_about_the_second_thing

GH: Why changing the topic?

AC: I'm_in_fact_returning_to_our_previous_topic

GH: Okay, speak

AC: The_name_of_the_game_is_"Sburb"

GH: What kind of name is that?

AC: The_same_kind_"Tron"_is_for_a_video_game

GH: Hey! Do not mess with Tron!

AC: I'm_not_quite_interested_on_those_movies_anyways

GH: No comments

AC: Thanks

* * *

Egyren was smiling at his laptop's screen " _Finally someone who understands my language"_ , when a notification popped out *Beep-beep*. Well, someone showed up on time.

* * *

GH: Hang on, Kogyto finally answered.

AC: Okay, do your stuff, I'll do mine.

 **godHunter [GH] ceased trolling anthropomorphicCreator [AC]**

* * *

" _ **At the other conversation…"**_

GH: Understood?!

 **EternityInvestigator [EI] began trolling godHunter [GH]**

EI: What?!ñ The code is ready?!ñ

GH: Yes, were you not notified before?

EI: Nope, I don't carry my laptop on expeditions.ñ

GH: It is agreeable.

GH: Now check your conversation with Aderyn, she already gave you the codes.

EI: Okay, thank shou, I'll go immediately.ñ

GH: Fine.

 **eternityInvestigator [EI] ceased trolling godHunter [GH]**

* * *

 **eternityInvestigator [EI] began pestering compassionateMagician [CM]**

EI: Hi.ñ Sorry for the waiting Faye.ñ

CM: You must be ashamed for making us wait Kogyto! Now you owe me something!

EI: What!ñ That's unfair!ñ

CM: Hehe. Joke :P ;)

EI: Don't scare me like that!ñ

CM: SorrynotSorry, I had to do it

EI: Fine, this never happened.ñ

EI: Hey, will this take too long?ñ I need to be early to the local carnival.ñ

CM: It's this day, isn't it?

EI: Shes.ñ It is widely celebrated across the world.ñ

CM: Too noisy for me. I prefer to stay warm in my home.

CM: But I know you like those celebrations, so…

CM: Have fun! ;)

CM: Don't drink

EI: I won't.ñ Promise.ñ

CM: Um, I don't think the game will be too long, just an hour

CM: Pleaaaaase! :3

EI: Okay, if shou say so…ñ

EI: I'm downloading both codes and the walkthrough.ñ

CM: Yay! I've already installed the server code when you were out

EI: How does this work?ñ

CM: It's kinda simple after one or two times reading the walkthrough

CM: I'll be your server player and you the client, then Egyren will be my server player.

CM: I've already sent you a request

EI: When will I be the server player?ñ

CM: You'll close the cycle being the server of the last one to enter

EI: Understood!ñ

CM: Let's stay connected while I tell you what to do

EI: Okay.ñ

* * *

A small window appeared, informing him about the request. He promptly accepted, this made the window swap to the game's loading screen. It had on the background all kind of colors flashing around with a strange symbol above the loading bar. Some time after, a list of short phrases appeared. Things like: "Reorganizing keys", "Progressing coil hydrants", "Twisting the mice", "Give your eyes a break"?

" _The bar is around 40 percent.ñ"_ Vulpes thought " _I wonder how the game will be like…ñ"_

 **8th: The kids are about to play. How will the game be? What kind of mysteries are surrounding the game and Arce?**

 **A/N: Thank you for reading this story. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the review section. And for those readers in the shadows, please support the story by reviewing and following, it motivates me to continue writing.**


	6. Chapter 5: Night of the final day

**A/N: Well, that took a while, but I kept my word, I updated the story faster than the last time. I hope I don't keep you waiting this long for the next chapter. Said this:**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own homestuck or any of its characters. I only own the OCs and the story.**

"Character speaking"

 _"Character thinking"_

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Night of the final day**

Vulpes stared patiently at the flashing screen. Each minute of waiting was an eternity for him. He just could fantasize about what would be on the other side of the screen. In fact, the only thing making the wait tolerable were the bizarre phrases flashing rapidly on the epileptic screen: "Inventing rubber hoists", "Recommending hatchets", "Judging chalk adaptors" were some of the phrases Vulpes could read. The more and more he did, the louder his laugh was. "These lines are definitely masterpieces!ñ" Was heard later between laughter and laughter.

Not very soon, installation ended and the game started running. First to show up was the "Sburb" logo. "Well, it's quite an unusual name for a videogame.ñ"

* * *

CM: Vulpes! I can see you!

EI: How come?ñ In what way?ñ

EI: Like in a video call?

CM: No! Like inside the game!

CM: I don't know how to explain it, you're in a Sims-like screen

EI: You mean like controlling my house and what I do?ñ

CM: Dunno, I'll be reading the walkthrough for more information.

CM: Got it! This icon is for moving an object

EI: Please don't damage anything, this is the only place I have!ñ

CM: I won't ;) ;)

* * *

Vulpes's recuperacoon started to move on its own, rising above his head. He moved out of the recuperacoon's shadow and then the great object fell undamaged.

* * *

EI: Hey!ñ Shou could kill me!ñ

CM: Sorry :) At least I didn't

EI: Sheah…ñ sure.ñ

EI: Now what?ñ

CM: Give me some time to learn

CM: Oh, and I've found some interesting stuff here

CM: But first I have to enlarge your room ;)

EI: What?!ñ

EI: But my room is quite large already.ñ

* * *

As soon as she said, she placed the icon over his wall and started to enlarge the space in his room: two yards in one direction and other two in the adjacent wall. Then she cleared the place out of books and shelves.

* * *

CM: I think I did it fine ;)

EI: Just don't do a mess and be careful.ñ

CM: Shes sir!

CM: Oh, and I got out of grist

EI: The what?ñ

CM: Money/material

CM: So I'll need to erase stuff

EI: No!ñ

CM: Sorry, I need to :)

EI: Okay, but shust one condition: shou can't erase my books, shelves, swords, bed, lusus, floor, wall, computers, lab stuff, food, recuperacoon, ablution trap or anything near them.ñ

CM: That's like everything on your house

EI: Well, find something else.ñ

CM: Lemme see

* * *

She proceeded to erase the rocks and trees surrounding his hive, some windows and part of the roof, then built stairs to it. Vulpes heard a loud sound coming from above, so he went to the source. "I-it can't be.ñ" A large machine with a pipe was deployed just meters above him.

* * *

EI: What is that gadget?!ñ

CM: It's labeled in here as a cruxtruder. It looks somewhat important

CM: I'll deploy other objects

EI: Roger.ñ

* * *

The conversation was followed by two crashing sounds again, one louder than the other. He proceeded to inspect both sounds. A small machine with a kind of… arm? was aside with the lusus on his living room. Then he left the house to come across with a gigantic platform with a pole.

* * *

EI: What are these for?ñ

CM: The walkthrough states they're needed for "entering the medium"

EI: Entering the what?ñ

CM: First go to for the big gadget on the roof

CM: The one with the large pipe

CM: Then open it

* * *

Doing as told, he went quickly to the large machine and noticed for the first time some major traits. The pipe was placed atop of a platform with some kind of little rectangular screen. On the pipe was a crank to open a little cap on the top. And in the cap a strange symbol was printed, it looked like the morphing, color-changing symbol in the game loading screen.

He proceeded to turn the crank, but it was too hard to move. His face was turning red because of the effort he was putting on it.

* * *

EI: Faye!ñ Need some help here!ñ

CM: I'm on it

She grabbed Vulpes's recuperacoon and smashed the crank with it, but the job was impossible.

CM: It won't open! It must be a bug

EI: Try smashing the machine multiple times, it will probably open that way.ñ

CM: Sure!

* * *

Again, she lifted the recuperacoon and smashed the crank and sides of the pipe. After some time trying, she gave up and let the object fall directly above the cap. It opened easily as a soda bottle. Two things came out from the pipe: a red crystal cylinder and an energy orb the same color as the cylinder. As soon as they came out, a timer began counting on the pipe object's screen: 7:18.

* * *

EI: Done!ñ

CM: Ummm… Vulpes, we are on serious trouble

EI: Why, shou mean the countdown?ñ

CM: Yes, you must be very quick!

CM: The walkthrough says that the item called cruxtruder (the one with the pipe) will display a countdown, then the life of the client depends on it, and if your co-player has activated this device in your environment too, then yours does as well.

EI: It must be exaggerating, like some kind of role plashing or something like that.ñ

CM: Well, it doesn't says here what does happen if the timer reaches zero

CM: I'll continue reading

EI: Quickly!ñ It's at 6:37!ñ

CM: Um… Here! The pre-punched card is an item you will use with the other device called the "totem lathe"

CM: You must grab the crystal cylinder and take it to the totem lathe, I'll give you there the pre-punched card

* * *

Vulpes took the crystal cylinder and continued running again, this time to his living room, where the totem lathe was placed. There, Faye gave him the pre-punched card. He instinctively inserted the cylinder into the space resembling its shape and did the same with the pre-punched card. The device started carving the crystal into a more curvy shape. It changed from a perfect cylinder to a strange cylindrical shape with 6 irregular curves on it.

* * *

EI: What is this for?ñ

CM: No time to talk

CM: We are losing so much of it!

CM: Go directly to the alchemiter!

EI: Shou mean the platform with the pole.ñ

CM: Yup

CM: You have around five minutes left

CM: I have to leave

CM: You must place the cruxite dowel (the crystal) in the alchemiter's pole, and then destroy the object it will create

EI: Okay, and what about the weird orb following me?ñ

CM: The kernelsprite. You have to "prototype" it with something

EI: To what?ñ

CM: Just throw one of those books or figurines of yours in there

CM: I don't have time

CM: I will leave a synchronized timer here for further reference

CM: 5:02

EI: If shou say so.ñ

EI: Thanks.ñ

EI: See sha later.ñ

* * *

Having said that, he proceeded to search for something to prototype the kernelsprite. "Where is it?ñ Where it could be?...ñ I'm sure it was here… Found! Perfect!ñ" He came across a small kitsune priestess figurine, a gift from Faye for his fifth wriggling day celebration. It was a shame to waste something like this, but time was running and he was running out of options.

"Here it goes!ñ" He threw the figurine carefully into the red orb, which began to glow after entering in contact with the object. After the light faded, the only thing left was a floating female kitsune head. "What in the world is this?ñ Well, I'll figure it later.ñ" Said this, as had been doing all day, Vulpes ran to the alchemiter outside the hive.

* * *

CM: 3:50

* * *

When he got out, he was surprised by the blinding light in the sky. "Is it day already?" Covering his eyes, he advanced carefully towards the great device. He then heard footsteps behind him, turning around carefully, he realized two things: One: his beloved fox lusus came out of the hive to guide him. Two: the light wasn't the sun. He noticed an unrecognizable humanoid slim figure atop on the hive's roof, but what caught his attention was the humungus meteor behind it.

Hey!ñ Whoever shou are, come down here!ñ The figure didn't respond to the troll's voice, it just stood there witnessing the scene.

"Idiot". The person muttered for itself.

Without thinking, he inserted the crystal cylinder into the pole. The machine began its process. A laser came from an arm on the pole and did something similar to a fast 3D impression, but with the difference this machine seemed to only work with crystal cylinders. When the process finished, the printed object was a crystal sword.

"How am I supposed to destroy this?ñ" Vulpes got in the platform and grabbed the sword, he did a few swings for trying its technique and smashed it abruptly with the alchemiter's pole, only to prove it useless. He tried again a couple of times, but it didn't result in the desired rupture of the object.

He sat down for a while to think on a better way to break the sword. Quickly, foxdad grabbed the item in its mouth and ran to the house, leaving Vulpes with no way to save himself. He muttered something in low voice: "I'm sorry, I'm going to die here.ñ".

Desperately, he stared at the lusus after some time, he realized it was calling him to enter the hive. "Huh?ñ".

The young troll did as the lusus wanted. Both ascended to Vulpes's room/storehive and sit in front of the sword on the pedestal. Then it released the crystal sword and pushed it with its head.

"B-but its Father's own sword!ñ I would never use it!ñ" He said to the lusus. At this, it replied with barks and growls, it moved its tail as well, and got near Vulpes cuddling with him.

"Shou're right.ñ Well, shou're the smartest lusus for some reason!ñ"

* * *

CM: 1:30

* * *

The young troll stood up, facing the sword on the pedestal. _**His**_ sword. He took the weapon from the golden handle. "I think the time has come Father.ñ Please let me take the responsibility of carrying your sword, as you wanted back then.ñ".

* * *

CM: 1:00 One minute left!

* * *

He capthalogued the "Guardian's blade" and selected it as his primary weapon on the strife specibus. Then, he placed the crystal sword on the pedestal.

* * *

CM: 0:30 Thirty seconds left!

* * *

Vulpes could feel the heat of the humungous comet right above his home, as well as the inminent danger he was in. But quickly, a thought crossed his mind: _I'm ready for everything!ñ"_.

* * *

CM: 0:10 Ten seconds left!

* * *

He raised _**His**_ blade and concentrated to give a perfect hit.

* * *

CM: 0:09

CM: 0:08

CM: 0:07

* * *

"You doomed _**our**_ world, kid".

* * *

CM: 0:06

CM: 0:05

* * *

He let the sword go, slashing its crystal counterpart in half. The broken sword started to glow intensely along with the alchemiter outside the hive. The glowing light covered the hive entirely. When the light faded, the hive was gone.

* * *

CM: 0:04

CM: 0:03

CM: 0:02

CM: 0:01

CM: 0:00

 **compassionateMagician [CM] ceased pestering eternityInvestigator [EI]**

* * *

The meteor hit the ground, exactly where a young troll's hive stood seconds ago. It caused panic in the small town a mile away the house. People went in large groups to inspect the area. They were surprised not to find the well-known hive on the usual place.

All rust, bronze, olive and golden bloods said with terrified voice: "The Traveler's son's hive is was destroyed!". "Everybody search for the kid's body or blood!".

* * *

 **Somewhere else, but not very far away**

Every troll, human and caparacian was celebrating. Everyone was dancing, cheering, singing, well, anything they could do to have fun. But it wasn't just happening in a single place. **All** the world was celebrating _**Their**_ life and _**Their**_ masterpiece.

They were celebrating the _**Creators**_ of this world.

* * *

A/N: I have something like an idea for you to participate on the review section, but that will be done for another chapter. Thank you for reading this story. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. And for those readers hiding in the shadows, please support the story by reviewing and following, it motivates me to continue writing.


	7. Chapter 6: The Carnival

**Chapter 6: The carnival**

 **A/N: Merry Christmas to everybody. Sorry for not uploading in like forever. I had some issues with writer's block and other responsibilities. I'll try to upload sooner this time.**

* * *

Four enormous fireworks were launched at the sky, making a magnificent display of blue, purple, red and green. Another round of colors was seen, but this time of sky blue, pink, orange and dark green. Soon, everywhere on the sky was covered by all kind of flashing lights.

All three empires' rulers were reunited in the capital of the Human Kingdom: The Troll Empress, The Human Sovereigns and The Caparacian Mayor. The Empress looked sometimes with mistrust at the Sovereigns, while the Mayor just ignored them and celebrated with everyone else.

"Attention!" The Sovereigns called to the people attending the event, and for those watching in their homes. "Our generation has the honor to be here to celebrate another centenary of the creation of our world. So our people: trolls, humans, caparacians. Rejoice!". The energetic crowd cheered after hearing these emotionally charged words, clapping and shouting.

When the crowd calmed down, the Empress spoke calmly, contrasting with the cheerful attitude of the Sovereigns. "We arE still waiting for thEm to rEturn sincE thEir disappEarance cEnturiEs ago. EveryonE is calling for you, and if you have a mEssage for us, plEasE lEt us know. Thank you". Everybody was silent, hearing the beautiful prayers of the troll ruler. The crowd clapped emblessed by the beautiful prayers of the ruler. The crowd clapped. Many were excited because of her great speech skills. Others weren't so much enthusiastic. High blood trolls were those who clapped more, while some humans and lowblood trolls only did because of their respect for her.

The speech continued with the Mayor, whose speech made every carapacian to clap and jump of joy.

Two hours after these speeches, around 2:00 of the night, the sky turned a bit red-like, attendees noticed this, thinking it was dawn. They turned to the sky. Two meteors could be watched heading for the human kingdom, and one heading for the border between the troll empire. One meteor fell some miles near the capital of the Human Kingdom, and the other fell continued its path until disappearing on the distance.

People were astonished and frightened. "Two meteors this day? It could be a message of prosperity for us." The sovereigns told the crowd. "As long as it doesn't hurts anybody, it is a good signal." The Empress just stood thinking silently.

People didn't know a kid's house was crushed by one of these.

It wasn't late enough before the empress ordered a search for any damage in the meteor's impact zone. The Sovereigns did the same with their own affected areas.

The search team sent arrived quickly because of their teleportation technology. They notified their purpose to the habitants of the town they arrived to. People received soldiers with dispairful voices. A chief responded for everyone to avoid chaos: "We saw a giant meteor crashing minutes ago, we sent some ppeopple to search where it landed, everybody who return said it landed in a hive where a young kid no more than 6 sweepps lived in".

"Who was the kid?" A drone asked sharply.

"Vulpes, the kid's name, was the son of a doctor who established here around eight sweepps ago. He stayed on the town because of the child's birth".

"Blood color?".

"We don't know, the kid never comes to the town".

"Lusus?"

"Vulpes didn't had one, I suppppose the doctor, his guardian, gave his own foxbeast to the kid. He told us that, when he adoppted Vulpes, the kid didn't have one".

"Any information about the kid's guardian?"

"His name was Aquilo, if I remember correctly, and, as I said before, he is a doctor. They call him The Traveler, because he visited every small town helpping ppeopple. He also investigated and got a degree in ectobiology, apppplying it to medical ppurposes..

"Blood color?".

"Again, he never showed the kid's. I remember he said they were tealbloods. He even made a cut on his hand to prove it".

"Thank you, that would be all. We will investigate the affected zone".

"I can guide you if you want to"

"It would not be necessary" Having said this, the team abandoned the place, heading to the impact zone.

The place was as the villagers described: the meteor having already cooled down, some rocks threw away by the force of the impact, and what was most impressing: there was no remains of the hive. And even if it was destroyed in the explosion, any parts of the structure should've been found anywhere.

Investigators in the team made a report with the information collected:

Meteor: Time of the collision: 2:07 a.m. Troll kingdom Standard Time. Place: European Border Troll Empire/Human Kingdom.

Hive: Completely pulverized. Unrecognizable.

Troll: Name: Vulpes Kogyto [ERROR] Troll not found on the Grub Hatching Register. Location: Unknown. Probably dead. Blood color: Unknown (Teal according to local people). Lusus: Unknown. Witnesses said he had his guardian's one: a foxbeast.

Guardian/tutor: Aquilo Kogyto [ERROR] Troll not found on the Grub Hatching Register. Title: The Traveler. Location: Unknown. Probably dead. Blood color: Unknown (Teal according to local people). Lusus: A foxbeast

They returned to the town and calmly gave the report to the very distressed people. Shortly after, they left the place as quickly as they came, leaving the poor villagers astonished enough.

Inmediatly, the team arrived to inform the Empress about the investigation. She ordered the information should not be released until discussed with the Sovereigns. Fortunately, the celebration continued without interruptions.

* * *

In the small town, some trolls were offended because of the treatment received from the investigators and drones, so they made a plan: to upload everything on internet for everyone to know about what happened that night.

The information was leaked out in no time. When the celebration ended, it was widely known by everybody that the meteor killed a kid in an isolated hive.

* * *

On a lab, investigators observed a huge group of meteors was directed to the planet. The rulers were notified of the situation, they response was to launch warships to divert or completely destroy the imminent menace.

* * *

The next day, a world-wide announcement was given via internet, TV, and on the streets.

"'A meteor has killed a kid' It is what every news-channel, internet forum and media in general. 'Troll scientists have observed a bigger horde coming. Measures are being taken as we speak, warships of every kingdom are being launched to avoid this catastrophe'. What have you caused Kogyto?". Egyren said.

 **godHunter [GH] began trolling compassionateMagician [CM]**

GH: Aderyn!

GH: ADERYN!

GH: Are you there?

GH: What happened to Vulpes last night?

CM: Excuse me!

CM: I'm somewhat busy now!

GH: I do not care, answer my question

CM: Last night?

CM: We were playing

CM: It was day where I am

CM: Now it's late night

GH: Yes, I completely forgot you humans are awake during the day.

GH: I have always covered my window, so my hive is always night

GH: It is barely 9:00 am here

CM: Fine, I have no idea what hour is here I think around 11:00 pm

GH: Nevermind

CM: I disconnected when his timer was around three minutes left

CM: He was following the steps I gave him to do some stuff in the game

GH: Timer?

GH: It could not have been a coincidence. Kogyto activated a timer and then the meteor fell.

GH: Did you know beforehand if that timer was linked somehow with the meteor?

CM: Meteor?

GH: Haven't you seen the news? "A kid's hive was crushed by a meteor"

GH: Investigations did not reveal the troll's name, but images shown in the before and after, and the location match with Kogyto's.

CM: WHAT!

CM: It can't be!

GH: Everything matches, the place, the timer, the walkthrough…

CM: Wait! Now you are pointing that out, I do remember the walkthrough said something like "the life of the client depends on it, and if your co-player has activated this device in your environment too, then yours does as well."

CM: We thought it didn't mean anything serious

GH: The only option we are left with is to prove something:

GH: If Kogyto did the process correctly, he must be somewhere safe and sound.

CM: Are you sure?

GH: Absolutely not.

GH: That is why we are going to test our theory!

GH: If we continue our chain, you as the client, and I as the server, I can send you with Kogyto.

CM: It's our only option, isn't it?

GH: Exactly

CM: Sigh, what next?

GH: I have already installed the game and I am connected to you as the server.

CM: I'll connect soon.

 **godHunter [GH] ceased trolling compassionateMagician [CM]**

* * *

 **Land of Ink and Papyrus**

Vulpes woke up very confused. Recently, he was running for his life, which was threatened by a meteor. His lusus was sleeping next to him, it seemed he wanted to sleep when Vulpes was unconscious.

"W-where I am?ñ What was I doing?ñ" He muttered as waking up. He walked around the room to stretch legs. "Last thing I remember was me trying to escape from the… meteor!ñ" Vulpes ran frightened to the window. Nothing. A cold dark void covered the hive as far as the sight could reach.

"What is this place?ñ Hello?!ñ" Vulpes shouted from the window.

"(=^^=) Greetings young cub!" A voice spoke behind him "Welcome to the void! The nowhere place!"

"Huh?ñ" The troll turned around very surprised because of hearing a voice being alone. Behind him, a ghostlike kitsune floated quietly.

The figure represented a red female kitsune of long hair, wearing a kimono and a pearl necklace. Her twin tails show her low rank as a shrine priestess. Her face expresion is joyful, with a kind look upon the kid.

"Who are you, miss?ñ"

"(=^^=) I am your guide in this long journey of yours, my young cub"

"What kind of journey will I have?ñ"

"(=^^=) Like no one has had ever. Your spirit will grow with each trial you pass, my young cub"

"Why do shou call me 'young cub'.ñ"

"(=^^=) Because you are one of us!". The ghost replied happily while pointing at Vulpes's ear-shaped horns. "You are part of a family with a long history behind!".

"Because of these?ñ These are my horns, not ears.ñ".

"(=^^=) It isn't important. As long as you have your spirit, you'll be one of us."

"(=^^=) Your mission is to ascend to your own personal shrine in a voyage to know everything about yourself, learning your true essence on the road!"

"Confusing.ñ". The troll reached his conclusion after being meditating the words for a short time.

"I need to contact Faye to know what's going on.ñ".

"Um, miss kitsune, I need to contact a friend.ñ"

"(=^^=) Sure! You can use that device of yours to comunocate with your friends freely".

"Really?ñ Thank shou!ñ".

"(=^^=) "No problem, I'll be here if you need something, young cub". Having said that, the sprite floated to the oposote part of the room.

Vulpes sat in his bed and uncaptchalogued the laptop. Faye should know better about his current state.

* * *

 **eternityInvestigator began trolling compassiveMagician**

EI: Faye!ñ

EI: I'm back!ñ

CM: Vulpes? Are you really still alive?

EI: Yeah, it's me.ñ

CM: Tell me something only the real Vulpes would know

EI: Why?ñ

CM: To know if it's really you :P

EI: Sigh…ñ I have to?

EI: Hello?ñ

EI: ?ñ

EI: I usually talk with the figurines shou gave me for my wriggling day.ñ

CM: I always knew it ;)))

EI: Shou little…ñ

CM: It's "shou" after all

EI: Could shou be more serious about this?ñ

CM: I thought you liked my non-serious mode too

EI: I like it, but I'm in some problems right now.ñ

EI: I'm stuck in some place appearing to be the nothing, an endless void.ñ

CM: According to the walkthrough, you are in a plane called "The Medium"

CM: I need to build your hive taller and taller to reach a place

CM: Oh, and be prepared for the upcoming enemies

EI: ENEMIES?!Ñ

CM: Yeah, it's a video game, you'll obviously fight them

EI: How?!ñ

CM: Use your auto-defense exploration skills

EI: But I've never fought another person!ñ

CM: You'll be okay, you have fought animals

EI: It's completely different!ñ

EI: Anyway, I'll try to stay calm.ñ

CM: Well said!

CM: As I was saying, you'll need to prepare, that means stronger weapons

CM: You need to create them via "Alchemy"

EI: Sounds complicated.ñ

CM: It is

CM: Just a little

CM: First, go to the cruxtruder (the device with the countdown) and get some cruxite dowels

EI: Easy.ñ

CM: Then take them to the alchemiter (the one with the pole and platform), I'll explain further when you are there

EI: Understood

* * *

He capthaloged again the laptop and ascended the stairs leading to the cruxtruder. The pipe was already open from above, it was from where the kernelsprite and dowel came out. The troll looked inside the pipe again, there was a new cruxite dowel ready to take. When Vulpes grabbed it, another one came out. He capchalogued three of them. Their weight almost made Vulpes to fall, so he uncaptchalogued one so he could walk easily. He would come again for more if needed.

The alchemiter was located outside the house. So, Vulpes went downstairs. Down there, he heard something moving and thrashing things around. He moved quietly, his steps didn't make any sound. Closer to the source of the noise, the troll saw a small black creature.

It had fox features: ears, form of the face and even whiskers. Its hands ended in small but sharp claws, and it was wearing a torn out simple kimono.

"It's there!ñ". He was sweating because of the tension. "What do I do now?ñ Calm down, calm down, it is just a wild animal, it doesn't think". Vulpes was almost prepared to attack.

Strife!

Vulpes ran immediately to the creature and swung the sword towards the creature, which barely dodged the surprise attack. It adopted a strange battle position, making sure to have its claws ready for aggression. It waited around ten seconds to jump at the height of Vulpes head.

The troll blocked the attack with his sword and pushed the creature away. It responded with a canine growl before jumping again. Vulpes reacted faster this time, slashing the creature in the air just before its claw reached his neck.

It poofed away, dropping small blue crystals which disappeared instantly.

After all the commotion, Vulpes ran outside quickly, hoping not to find another creature standing in his way. When he arrived to the alchemiter, he admired the landscape standing before his eyes.

* * *

A/N: The game I told you on the last chapter consists on guessing the references hidden in the story. You can find them in names, titles, conversations, etc.

As always, thank you for reading this story. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Please support the story by reviewing and following, it motivates me to continue writing. Read you later, and have a happy New Year!


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